Best Natural Remedies to Help Your Baby Sleep Peacefully
Making a comfortable environment for babies is one of the priorities that mothers want. At times, it may be hard to lull your baby into sleep because of various distractions. One of the challenges that you will face in parenthood is to help your baby sleep comfortably. Babies are sensitive to a lot of various things that make it difficult for them to fall asleep. Read on to discover the natural remedies to take note of in order to help your baby sleep soundly and peacefully.
What Keeps Your Baby up at Night?
Babies that can’t fall asleep at night may be having issues regarding their sleep patterns or are not feeling well and hence may require your attention. Distractions such as the sound of traffic, television, radio or mobile phones can disrupt your baby’s circadian rhythm. Learn the various ways on how to counter them and help your baby sleep.
1. Uncomfortable Night Clothes
Babies that wear uncomfortable night clothes have difficulty sleeping because the material used may be sensitive to their delicate skin. Making sure that the night clothes of your baby is comfortable, breathable and soft will help your baby sleep throughout the night.
2. Noises
Babies also tend to have sensitive hearings causing them to have trouble sleeping when they hear a lot of noise. This is why, you have to be extra careful in keeping the surrounding of your baby peaceful during nighttime. Babies can be easily awoken by small disturbances. In relation, babies also tend to have many partial awakenings throughout the night.
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When your baby makes a slight sound or opens their eyes during nighttime, observe for a while first before intervening. Be there for them but don’t pick them up yet. This can be your baby’s way of settling down or adjusting their sleeping time. If they cry and don’t stop crying for a period of time, check if they have wet diapers or if they are hungry and try to placate them with gentle words first before carefully changing or breastfeeding them.
3. Food Habits
Babies that have successfully weaned off from digesting breast milk and are taking on solid foods can have various food habits that affect their sleeping time. Your baby’s diet has an essential role to help your baby to sleep after dinner time. Having oatmeal with bananas or apple is helpful for proving a nutritious meal. In fact, having bananas for dinner is also a popular food for babies because of its soft and sweet taste. Making banana purees for dinner will surely help your baby in digestion. Bananas also have a lot of magnesium which acts as a natural muscle reactant. Feeding bananas to your baby will help them take a nap sooner and keep it longer. In this essence, adding walnuts to your baby’s diet is also a great way to aid in the production of their serotonin and helps them relax.
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Photo by Alexander Mils on Unsplash
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Walnuts are most recommended for babies that are one year older. Creating walnut butter is a safe way to introduce walnuts to your baby to avoid the hazards of choking. Remember that it is better to introduce new food to your baby in the morning to give you ample time to resolve any adverse reactions that may happen. Don’t add any sweeteners on your baby’s food because it can make them jittery, add only natural fruits that have fructose. In addition, breastfeeding during nighttime also helps in the produce of melatonin or sleep hormones. Hence, you can also add breastfeeding to your daily routine and help your baby sleep.
4. Stomach Health
One of the causes of lack of sleep is the irritation or pain that babies experience when their tummy aches. When a baby experiences a tummy ache throughout the day, chances are it will also disrupt their sleeping time. You have to give tummy time or stomach massage to your baby when they experience stomach discomfort. Giving stomach massages can help in gas issues which are a usual source of distress for babies. It is important to wait for at least 45 minutes after dinner time before you start massaging your baby to reduce the risk of vomiting. Make sure to place your baby in a soft warm towel to massage him or her gently.
There are stomach strokes that help in moving the gas for your babies. Usually, this starts with at the lower right of your baby’s belly to the lower left. In order to effectively to do this, it is helpful to envision the face of a clock on your baby’s tummy. Afterwards, you can start at 7 or 8 o’clock moving from left to right in a half moon shape. You can also lay your thumbs above your baby’s belly button and slide them gently away from each other. An important aspect before doing this is to ask for your baby’s permission first and explain what you are doing while massaging your baby. Knowing the tricks for a gentle tummy massage will help your baby sleep peacefully and also ensure a healthy stomach.
Additional Tips To Help Your Baby Sleep
1. Prioritize Daytime Activities
Keeping your baby active throughout the day is a helpful way to stimulate their development and growth. But there are times in which some parents like to play or over stimulate their baby during the evening or usually after work hours. Activities that excite the baby when repeated over time become habits. Your baby will eventually adapt and expect playtime during a specific period.
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Photo by Brina Blum on Unsplash
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Make sure that all major activities are planned during daytime to avoid over stimulating your baby in the evening. Over stimulating your baby can lead to a later sleeping time. If you cannot plan all activities during daytime, make sure to stop these activities an hour or two before your baby goes to sleep. This will prevent your baby from being stimulated and going into hyperactive mode. Ensuring that your baby enters into relaxation mode after dinner will help your baby sleep in regular intervals. These activities will also help when travelling especially if you make sure that all travel activities are scheduled during the day.
2. Ideal Sleep Environment
To help your baby fall sleep naturally, you can create an environment that evokes a peaceful atmosphere. Make sure that your baby has a clean bed, devoid of any stains and toys. Use only the best diapers in the market that have strong absorbent qualities. Babies will not sleep well if their diapers are wet or not absorbent enough. You can also buy a dimmer lamp that has a soft lighting to make your baby get used to such settings. Playing white noise or any calm and soothing music will also help your baby calm down and sleep peacefully.
Natural white noise such as the low hum of a fan can be helpful for your baby. A baby white noise machine can also be purchased but make sure to keep the volume at an all-time low. Baby white noise machines turned up at a high volume can be damaging to your baby’s ear drums. This is why it is important to be mindful of using such machines to help your baby sleep. Natural methods such as singing lullabies and constantly telling your baby that it is now sleeping time is better as this establishes a deeper connection with them.
“A mother’s arms are made of tenderness and children sleep soundly in them.”- Victor Hugo
Always talk and share what you are doing with your baby as this helps in creating bonds and also evokes dependence. Be consistent with these bedtime rituals to encourage your baby to fall asleep during a set sleeping time. Sleeping with your baby in the same room also helps them keep their calm especially when they are hypersensitive and love to have you near. If your baby is still adapting to the current changes on their bedtime routine, check on them often and comfort them.
Having your baby in the same room sleep with you but in a separate crib will reassure them that you are close enough. If they cry throughout the night, pat their backs gently and offer consoling words or phrases. This is also considered as a gentle training that can help your baby sleep without forcing it which will lead to a higher success rate.
3. Baby Walks
Taking your baby for a fun walk during the morning and during the evening aids in improving their mood and helps in encouraging a healthy sleep routine. Take your baby out for a short walk after breakfast to help them get some exposure. It is optimal to do this before 8:00am. Having a short break during the afternoon when the sun is setting is also beneficial to help your baby sleep. Short walks in the evening triggers the produce of melatonin which helps in aiding sleep. Remember to check the weather conditions to dress your baby accordingly before going out.
For babies that are less than six months old, it is advisable to use a pushchair as this helps them lie flat comfortably. This in turn, aids in their spinal and lung development. You can make this a regular routine for your baby and head for dinner afterwards. Make sure to close the curtains or the blinds during summertime where it tends to be brighter outside even after the usual evening hours to help set the sleeping atmosphere for your baby.
Conclusion
There are many ways to help your baby sleep but finding the ones that resonate with your baby is a process of trial and error. Some babies like certain kinds of fruits and abhor others, while some babies prefer sleeping without white noise and some can become dependent on them. Other babies may hate massages and cry during walks or dislike lullabies but it is up to you to strike the balance between gently training them and helping them get used to such routines. Your baby might be unfamiliar about everything first and may take some time to respond positively to specific routines but easing them up gently will help them establish their own routines over time. Patience will always be key in child-raising and the little joys that come with it make the journey all the more fulfilling.